WIREDGOV

• Full Report (760 KB)
• Executive Summary  (168 KB)

A £330 million programme has enhanced the 46 English Fire and Rescue Services’ capacity to respond to terrorist attacks and other catastrophic incidents such as major flooding. But better value for money could have been secured in the procurement of the specialist vehicles and equipment, according to a National Audit Office report out today.

The New Dimension programme was introduced following the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. It involved procuring specialist vehicles and equipment, training 10,000 fire fighters, and helping to prepare Fire and Rescue Services to tackle terrorist and other major incidents. The equipment has already been used successfully at three major incidents to date: the Buncefield fire, the 2007 summer floods, and at the Warwickshire warehouse collapse in November 2007.

There appear to be sufficient numbers of fire fighters trained for all but one of the equipment types. The Fire Service College carries out most of the training, although fire fighters training in Urban Search and Rescue were sent to Texas before September 2005 as College facilities were not ready.

Funding uncertainty and poor programme, project and financial management in the early days of the project resulted in delays in introducing the equipment and significant cost overruns. A fraud of £867,200 within the programme remained undetected for 9 months and in procuring one vehicle type, for example, poor contracting and record keeping resulted in a delay of a year and unnecessary costs of between £3 and £8 million.

Improvements in programme and financial management have since been made. But more still needs to be done to address weaknesses which might hamper future incident response. In particular the department need to address uncertainties over the respective roles of national co-ordinating bodies and develop a strategy for national and regional multi-agency practice exercises.

Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said:

"The New Dimension programme has helped provide the Fire and Rescue Services with the specialist equipment and training it needs to respond to terrorist and other major catastrophic incidents. But better value for money could have been achieved, and the project has been subject to considerable delays. The Department for Communities and Local Government still needs to enhance major incident planning by Fire and Rescue Services for regional and national-scale incidents."
 

Notes for Editors:

1. This report covers England only. Both the Scottish and Welsh governments have pursued very similar policies and programmes to England. Wales has procured almost exactly the same equipment and vehicle types. Scotland has procured very similar types, except that their equivalent vehicles to Incident Response Units can transport Urban Search and Rescue modules as well as Mass Decontamination units. Mutual aid agreements exist between English, Welsh and Scottish Fire and Rescue Services to provide support if needed.
2. New Dimension vehicles and equipment provide for: Mass Decontamination in case of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incidents, Urban Search and Rescue equipment in case of collapsed buildings; High Volume Pumps to relieve flooding and tackle large fires.
3. Press notices and reports are available from the date of publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
    
4. The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used their resources.